#107 – What (You Know) You Don’t Know with John Musser SSC

13 Sep #107 – What (You Know) You Don’t Know with John Musser SSC

Matt and Scott interview Starting Strength Coach John Musser about his career in law enforcement and high-level security detail. Musser’s experience in security has taught him to be detailed and probe for things that don’t fit into known patterns. Importantly, he says, you have to search for the facts you don’t know, which can be uncomfortable for most people. Yet this is where Coach Musser thrives, and the same attention to detail has made him an excellent coach.

Security work also taught Musser how to prepare for many situations. He doesn’t like the word “plan,” because plans frequently go awry as soon as the facts of the situation they were built around change, but he does like to “prepare.” Good preparation presupposes material changes to any given situation, and ensures that you have the skills, equipment, and mindset necessary to adapt to whatever the situation throws at you. There are many parallels to lifting barbells. We cannot always control the situation at the gym, whether it’s the equipment, or the people, or the music, or even other factors like how we’re feeling that day, or what other stressors we’ve had to face before training. Nevertheless, the training (and recovery) leading up to any one workout prepares us for the workout. Sometimes we’re just not up to the task, but those who train consistently know that we often surprise ourselves when life throws us curveballs outside the gym.

Coach Musser recently competed at the 2018 Starting Strength Coaches’ Meet in Wichita Falls, putting up some impressive numbers (especially for a 54 year old guy): 481lbs squat, 225 press, and a 601 deadlift.